PASCAGOULA, Mississippi - Mississippi Phosphates filed an incident report with the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center on Wednesday regarding the runoff from its sulfuric acid plant into a storm drain, and the company has now put an emergency bypass into place, according to documents obtained by The Mississippi Press.

An email circulated among Jackson County leaders, city of Pascagoula officials and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Thursday evening noted that Mississippi Phosphates "has started their emergency bypass of process water off the gyp(sum) stack. They are planning on a ten day bypass."

The email was sent while Pascagoula Councilman David Tadlock was conducting a Ward 3 town hall meeting at Ingalls Avenue Baptist Church in which industrial pollution was a hot topic of discussion.

The Mississippi Department of Enviromental Quality issued cease-and-desist orders in August and again in September for Mississippi Phosphates to shut down their sulfuric acid plants due to reports of an acid mist that was affecting residents in east Pascagoula as well as other industries along Bayou Casotte.

The plant is operating under certain restrictions handed down from DEQ in late October.

"The odors and discharges, those are things that concern us and we need to know what those are," Tadlock said. "That's a fair question for anyone to ask. I think the cumulative effect and what we know now to be a frequency issue is not being addressed.

"When I see the frequency of incident reports increasing, that tells me there are other issues that aren't being addressed or can't be addressed for other reasons. What are those reasons and can we find out and talk about those reasons. I think that is what is starting to come to light."

Barbara Weckesser and Karen Kilbern have formed the Cherokee Concerned Citizens watchdog group that has been documenting smells, dust and pollution, and raising those concerns with state and local officials and their industrial neighbors.

The group is also working with the Steps Coalition, which is helping them target their efforts on the permitting process and further documentation of the issues they face.

"Karen and I were out at midnight the night before last taking pictures of VT Halter doing sandblasting and it going up in the air," Weckesser said. "This morning the acid smell was coming in my house. They can't seem to determine where it's coming from. Nobody seems to know, so we don't know."

Weckesser brought a jar of discolored water and gave it to Pascagoula City Manager Joe Huffman after the meeting. She said she collected it under a bridge on Cherokee.

"Something is wrong with that water," Weckesser said. "It shouldn't have an oily sheen on top and it shouldn't be that color."

Weckesser pointed to blemishes on her face she said started to occur about three months ago.

"We have a very sick neighborhood and people are getting sicker," she said. "No one seems to care or want to do anything about that part. We've had five cases of pneumonia in our neighborhood in the last couple of months."

The Cherokee Concerned Citizens have had a meeting with industrial representatives, local leaders and DEQ officials to discuss their concerns. Weckesser said she was even offered a personal tour of the Pascagoula Chevron Refinery to learn more about that operation.

"We wanted to have a communication push first, as far as communicating with industry and the right agencies and that has happened," Tadlock said. "We've all come to the table. I'm hoping that the industries that are how there and have to work around each other, they have employees and they have to consider their well-being, too. If they are being affected outside those boundaries, what about the people inside?"

Howard Page of the Steps Coalition said DEQ needs to share more information with the public.

"DEQ really needs to share all of their enforcement efforts," he said. "I know it complicates things when you share all of your enforcement efforts and industries become more controlling of information because it could be used against them in court.

"DEQ did a good job last fall of shutting down the plant (Mississippi Phosphates) and giving specific agreement to reopen. But to not share that with the public made it look like they were hiding everything."

Tadlock said the city now has a single point of contact at DEQ - Melissa Collier - and that they are being kept better informed about incident reports filed with the Coast Guard, like the one on Wednesday.

Weckesser said her group is also focused on the upcoming permitting processes for Signal in September and VT Halter Marine in December. Mississippi Phosphates permits were updated at the end of last year.

The Cherokee Concerned Citizens plan to hold their next meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Pascagoula Public Library.